Technical Field
The present invention relates to a server, an image processing unit and a non-transitory recording medium. The present invention more specifically relates to a technique to run an application on the server connected to an image processing device over a network, thereby enabling the application to operate in cooperation with the image processing device.
Description of the Related Art
A conventional image processing device that may be a MFP (Multifunction Peripherals) with multiple functions such as a copy function, a scanning function and a print function are capable of performing input jobs. Some examples of the input jobs include a variety of jobs relating to image processing such as copy jobs, scanning jobs and print jobs. There may be more than one image processing devices placed in a place such as an office.
Recently, people are willing to have image processing devices capable of performing jobs in cooperation with a cloud service. The jobs to be performed on the image processing device include, for example, jobs to directly submit image data of a document obtained in the scanning function to a storage on the cloud and store it therein and/or jobs to directly download the data stored in the storage on the cloud to print.
In order to meet the request, a browser is equipped with the conventional image processing device, and the browser allows cooperation between each function of the image processing device and the cloud service. This known technique is introduced for example in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. JP 2013-90264 A.
According to the known technique, when, for example, the browser accesses the cloud service to display a web page, it analyzes the web page, thereby designating the function in the image processing device to be used by the cloud service and displaying the web page relating to the designated function constructed inside the image processing device together with the web page provided by the cloud service. Specifically, according to the known technique, installation of a dedicated browser application on the image processing device allows cooperation between the image processing device and the cloud service.
This, however, requires registration of the application that allows cooperation with the cloud service with every image processing device located in the office, for instance. An administrator needs to implement bothersome registration, and it is also difficult for him or her to manage each application. The application to cooperate with the cloud service may only be registered with the limited number of the multiple image processing devices. In such a case, if a user uses the image processing device without the application, the job to perform in cooperation with the cloud service cannot be processed, resulting in less user-friendliness.
In recent years, it is required to develop a system that include a server located on a network to which multiple image processing devices are connected and implement registration of the application capable of performing in cooperation with the multiple image processing devices with the server. The application registered with the server allows operation in cooperation with the network connected image processing device to process the job on the image processing device and in cooperation with the cloud service. Hence, the user with the system operates the application by accessing the server, thereby allowing cooperation between each of the multiple image processing devices and the cloud service.
In a case where the aforementioned system is developed, the application operated on the server may be in communication with each image processing device to execute each function in the image processing device. Communication between the application and each image processing device may be over a predetermined protocol and command. This allows third vendors to develop the application operated on the server. Moreover, user interfaces meet individual user's requirements may be provided. These realize more user-friendliness.
In the case where an error such as a paper jam is occurred on the image processing device, operations the user has to do to fix the error are different depending on a situation or a location of the paper jam and/or a device type of the image processing device. The application may recognize the occurrence of the error on the image processing device in communication with the image processing device using a predetermined protocol. It is, however, difficult for the application to construct a screen to specifically indicate the operations the user should proceed to fix the error. The application may be provided by the third vendor as described earlier. In such a case, it is very difficult to construct and display the appropriate error screen based on the situation or the location of the paper jam and/or the device type of the image processing device.